Aquaclear power out

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JayP

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Jan 17, 2020
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Hi all-- first post here. I have 15 Aquaclears of all the different sizes and my problem has become a serious concern.

We had a very high wind event last week and i had 3 power outages in one night. Literally half of my Aquaclears did not restart after the power came back on and I had to flick the impellers to get them going again.

Is there a fix for this? I take a couple of trips of 2 weeks every year and dont want to consider what might happen if a motor burns out.

What do I do?

Pls and thx
 
I love my aquaclears but you need to be aware they are not advertised as self priming.

They sometimes can restart but not always. You can increase your chances of them being able to restart by keeping the water level as high as possible, making sure the impeller is clean and not using a prefilter sponge which can lower suction.

When I go out of town I remove prefilter sponges on anything that doesn’t need it to protect small inhabitants, clean filter a few days before leaving and get the water level as high as possible before I go. If I am leaving for a long trip I may also put a small internal filter inside so if one dies (due to power outage or simple failure) the tank isn’t left completely without filtration. I also use underpowered heaters in my tank to reduce chances of cooking fish due to failures and if the room will be kept anywhere near their preferred temp anyway I unplug all heaters.

I’ve never had a problem but I usually under stock my tanks and long trips are a rarity for me. If this is a major concern for you the only real option is to buy filters that are advertised as self priming. (or, I suppose, giving a neighbor a key and asking them to come by if the power goes out and asking them to dump a cup of tank water into the back of any filter not running.) You should probably also consider a temperature control unit. Filters aren’t the only thing that can fail!
 
Hi all-- first post here. I have 15 Aquaclears of all the different sizes and my problem has become a serious concern.

We had a very high wind event last week and i had 3 power outages in one night. Literally half of my Aquaclears did not restart after the power came back on and I had to flick the impellers to get them going again.

We had a multi-hour power failure last week, and one of my three aquaclears refused to restart: it was the one that hadn't had regular maintenance done yet. So, I broke it down and did a full clean, especially of the impeller shaft housing - that seems to be where the problem lies. I know it will be a lot of work with 15(!) of these filters, but doing that for each one before you leave is the best I can suggest. (That, and having a friend look in on your tanks.)
 
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